Sociable

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Salton Buttes Volcano Vents

Here is a part of our visit to Salton Buttes Volcano, and some mud and volcanic gas ejecting vents. These vents are amazing in person, a bit scary, and one must be very careful around them, and know what they doing. I came upon a pair of sneakers with the soles totally melted. This is an active volcano with hot stuff coming out of it.

It was very hot there, and stinky as heck! Not a good place for a picnic, that's for sure. It's surrounded by very bleak desert, and it's next to the strange Salton Sea, a giant salty lake with a weird history to it, This is an area of salt flats, ghost towns, agriculture, hot springs, rocky mountains and sand dunes. Humorously put, going out there is like a day long safari into the Empty Quarter! Or like going out into the Twilight Zone...

There is a 20 mile long Magma chamber 4 to 6 miles under the Salton Sea, along with many other magma chambers and volcanic plumbing throughout the Salton Through. Right below these vents, is a magma pipe about a mile underground. This volcano is partially buried by about 4000 feet or more of sediments. In some places that sedimentary rock can be much deeper.

This is a very complex geologic area, for it is within a rifting zone, which is an area of crustal spreading, and where that connects with the 700 mile long strike-slip transform fault, the San Andreas fault. This volcano is a part of a 7000 mile long mid-oceanic, crust forming ridge - that happens to be on land.

I filmed this in black and white just to play out how unusual this place is. The actual colors in the tend to be grey tone desert scape anyways, so you not missing much color.

About Me

Award winning filmmaker.
I write about geology, aerospace and also a novel series called the Diablo Diaries, featuring a whacky character named Prince Stephan. Also I produce and direct film, both feature and documentary. Working on a documentary about the eastern California rifting zone, and co-produced the movie Defcon 2012.
Serious publishers, agents, producers or serious questions, please E-mail us at: liechtensteinfilms@live.com